When Wolves Attack

I guess it would depend on whether they get a bite on her. If one of the wolves gets a hold of her, then only intervention is going to save her. Ever see wild dogs take down a gazelle on a nature program? I think they'd get her limbs and pull in every direction until one gets her gut and rips her open. If she's alerted in time, I can imagine her getting up a tree.

FWIW, I don't think wolves have historically seen humans as a food source, so unless there's a plot reason for the wolves to attack, you should be prepared for some angry letters. :-D

Depends on how accurate you want to be. Wolves are much maligned animals who rarely attack humans, although it does occasionally occur. Literary wolves, however, do it all the time.

You could always attribute the wolves' atypical behavior to the influence of whatever magical elements you have in the story.

I think I read somewhere (and it stuck) that wolves tend to attack in a 'pass and slash' fashion, taking turns until the prey is debilitated. The girl could whack at them with a stick as each moves in.

Your question made me curious, and I came across this article that may help you with wolf attack behaviour:
http://www.wolfpark.org/Articles/Wyman.html

Are they really wolves or Agents in sheep's clothing?

Hmm...the only thing I'm not sure of is how long the wolves would wait for her to get out of the tree before giving up, since it's not a predator-evasion tactic they come across a lot in their normal big prey.

Wolves and big cats have two very different hunting methods. Cats are, in a way, clean killers; they are generally ambush predators, and they move in swift and snap the neck or get a choke hold on the wind pipe, suffocating their prey. Wolves are messy killers. They follow their prey as a pack, running it down and basically ripping pieces out of it until it dies. And they are persistent--they will follow a deer for days, hounding it until is is already half-dead from sheer exhaustion.

So wolves are very patient predators. However, its possible they would give up on someone in a tree just because there's no way for them to get up there, and time spent waiting her out could be better spent hunting prey they can reach. They may lurk around for awhile though hoping she'll get thirsty and come down.

Wolves really aren't very big on attacking humans though--humans are the most dangerous predator around, after all--but you could probably come up with some reason, like it's a harsh winter and the wolves are clearly starving, or something like that.

When I was an animal control officer years ago, we had 3 different groups of wolves running in our county. Having dealt with each one, I never had one charge, or do anything but try to get away (even once when I was among twelve of them, with pups i/a). On one occassion I was even able to get up put a leash on one. Never saw any of the "Hollywood Wolf Rage" stuff. I've seen worse from dogs. So for me....the myth is "busted".

If it's a fantasy story, I'd just make up a new wolf like critter and malign it instead of real ones. Same with crows and ravens being the portent of bad things....just another myth. IMO.

As for hungry wolves...one winter we had a moose come through the area, followed by a bear, then a pack of wolves waiting to pick off the scraps the bear left behind. They're patient, cool animals.


-Bill

The faeries could do something to divert the wolves' attention. Create the illusion of something else for the wolves to pursue which your POV character would not see perhaps.

Wolves

There are quite a few documented cases of wolves attacking people, but only one documented case of wolves actually attacking and killing someone. There have been a fair number of people who came up missing in wolf country, and wolves were the likeliest culprits. It simply couldn't be proven beyond doubt.

Wolves usually attack by first trying to hamstring prey. Once this is done, the prey can't run, can't fight, and the wolves then move in for the kill.

Wolves are wild animals, and just like bears, sometimes you can trust them, and sometimes you can't.

Welcome, Sylvia.

You might make them feral dogs instead of wolves. Dogs bred for hunting or war would have less fear of man than wolves, and if they had been trained to attack humans and then gone wild (you can make up a reason) they could be very dangerous--many breeds are larger and stronger than wolves, but lack their endurance.

Hope this helps.
HN

Do the wolves have to attack for her to be frightened? It isn't what the wolves do but her reaction that counts.

There are a number of medieval records of wolves attacking and eating humans, although these are usually associated with extremely bad winters. It's not a normal occurrence by any means, but to say wolves would never attack a human is not exactly correct, and I say this as a wolf affeccionado.

Elizabeth Bear has some information about that on her blog - especially one year when the Seine froze and wolves actually invaded Paris looking for food.

Richard White said:

There are a number of medieval records of wolves attacking and eating humans, although these are usually associated with extremely bad winters. It's not a normal occurrence by any means, but to say wolves would never attack a human is not exactly correct, and I say this as a wolf affeccionado.

Elizabeth Bear has some information about that on her blog - especially one year when the Seine froze and wolves actually invaded Paris looking for food.

Click to expand...

True enough. I was talking about wolves in America. Wolves in Europe have a much longer and a much more well-documented history of attacking and killing people.

But anyone who thinks wolves anywhere are tame, or won't attack people, just hasn't been around wolves under the right circumstances.

wild dogs are a possibility any place you have domestic dogs. A tame dog runs off and has to fend for itself. With woods and forests around, they have room to operate. When I was growing up in farm country, I can think of at least two cases were a pack of wild dogs were attacking farm animals and eating them.